This invention relates to illuminating devices or lamps for lighting a picture or display.
A wide variety of lamps and lighting devices are known in the lighting art, including lighting devices specifically designed for casting light on a picture or display. Lamps for pictures generally include an electric light receptacle that is mounted on a flexible or movable support arm which in turn is mounted on a connecting structure, either one designed for mounting on the wall or an adjacent support structure or one for mounting on the back of the picture or display itself. The light receptacle can comprise a metal housing generally with an open bottom and often with a reflector to direct the light in the direction of the picture. The support arm may take the form of a flexible support tube or the form of one or more rigid arm sections, the position of which can generally be adjusted.
An example of a picture frame designed for a display frame is that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,720 issued Mar. 27, 1973 to Magna Battery Reflector Corp. This known device employs battery power and it is detachably mounted atop a picture frame at its back by using a bracket base. This base is connected to the frame by means of a clamp mechanism that extends to the front of the frame. The device includes a lamp receptacle that acts as a reflector and a flexible goose neck conduit that is connected at its rear end to the bracket and at its front end to the light receptacle. The battery pack is mounted on a bottom of the bracket and is positioned behind the picture frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,245 issued Jan. 14, 1974 to Cincotta et al. describes a cordless picture lamp that runs on a rechargeable battery. This lamp includes a vertical mounting bracket and the battery is mounted in a horizontal support for the light source, which is angularly disposed to direct light downwardly and inwardly towards the vertical surface of the picture.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 312,703 issued Dec. 4, 1990 appears to show a picture light with a light receptacle at one end of an elongate, adjustable arm that appears to have a pivotable connection at each end. At the end furthest from the lamp receptacle there is a base housing which is generally rectangular on each side.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively inexpensive illuminating device for mounting on a picture frame, which device will not result in damage either to the frame itself or the adjacent supporting wall as it requires no mounting screws and no clamping mechanism.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved illuminating device or picture lamp for lighting a picture or display which can be manufactured at a reasonable cost, which is battery operated, and which employs an adjustable support arm that extends between a housing for the battery or batteries and the electric light receptacle.